Raven
by Baronvonblack
Summary: Two years ago, Harry Potter escaped from Azkaban. Now a new warrior comes, bringing with him a wave of death. His objective? Kill as many Death Eaters as he can.
1. Chapter 1

**2 years ago**

Dumbledore looked at the Order of the Phoenix gravely. "I have called this emergency meeting," the older wizard began, "Because a matter of great importance has come up."

Remus yawned tiredly, dark rings around his eyes. Whatever it was, it wasn't important enough for them to…

"Harry Potter has escaped Azkaban."

There were many shocked gasps throughout the Order. Remus nearly spat out the firewhiskey he was drinking.

"How is this possible?" Kingsley demanded. "And why haven't the Aurors been informed of this?"

"Minister Fudge told me several hours ago," Dumbledore sighed. "He wanted, as I'm sure you're all aware, to see how guilty Harry Potter really was and to show me that I was wrong for believing in him."

"Fudge is desperate," Moody growled out in a raspy voice. "He wants to win over more supporters. Wants to show the world how inept Dumbledore really is, and how much greater a man he is."

"Albus, you're not to blame," Molly said sadly before her voice became angry. "That…boy is! What kind of a slimy, two-faced…"

"Molly," Arthur said tiredly. "This isn't the time."

Remus jumped up in anger. "I don't see how you could still blame him!" he spat. "There was much evidence, but you know Harry! There is, and still is no way he could have killed Cedric Diggory and his Godfather Sirius!"

"Of course," Snape said with dripping sarcasm. "He just happened to be in the exact same place and same time at both of their deaths, and has two killing curses registered on his wand."

"But think!" the werewolf pleaded. "Would our Harry ever do such a thing? What if Voldemort…" several people winced, "Set it up? Ever since Harry went to Azkaban, he's been going on a rampage! What if he planned for it?"

"We cannot burden ourselves with conspiracies," Dumbledore said with a sigh. "There are more of us now, but we must focus on the fact that young Harry, somehow escaped. We do not know what he will do now. Will he target his friends, for example?"

Lupin fell back into his chair miserably, taking a swig out of the flask of alcohol he carried. Ever since his friend's death and Harry going to prison, he had become even more depressed, falling into drinking to help him.

The wolf inside had become much more wild and unpredictable because of the alcohol – but Remus didn't know any other way to help his grief.

--

Harry cleaned himself with the stolen wand.

An Auror had nearly caught him as he transformed back from his bird form.

He took little pleasure in watching the Auror fall to his death into the ocean from the top of Azkaban, screaming, but if he leaked out that he was an Animagus it would make escaping much harder.

He steeled himself. _His death was necessary. Keep telling yourself that, and you might believe it._

Harry conjured a rope, tying the wand to it. Transforming into his form, he pulled the wand around his body before taking off, delighted finally at his freedom.

--

Present

"Come on, you fools," Bellatrix snarled quietly as the group of Death Eaters huddled together under disillusionment charms. "Spread out and stick to the Dark Lord's plan!"

The Death Eaters did, fearful of what the mad lady would do if they didn't follow her orders.

More and more purebloods had flocked to their cause after the initial attack. When the leader of the light's faith in the Boy-Who-Lived was misplaced, many came to the Dark Lord, knowing he would establish a new order.

And Bellatrix, his most loyal Death Eater was given command of an entire squad of Death Eaters to use at her disposal – Voldemort trusted her enough to make independent attacks without his supervision, a trust that the witch promised would not be misplaced.

But now they were in one of Lord Voldemort's more intricate plans – a plan to capture Azkaban prison.

Suddenly there were several yells and a massive explosion, flinging rubble and bodies all over the place.

Bellatrix snapped up, wand in hand. That wasn't part of the initial plan! And how did the petty Aurors manage to catch them by surprise? "Move!"

--

The warrior gave a grim smile as he looked from his vantage point on the structure of Azkaban prison.

He took out a sleek pair of grey binoculars from his heavy trench coat, activating it with a button on the side.

The world turned ghostly green. He scanned the entrance, before pressing another switch, activating the thermal vision.

A cold smirk graced his lips as he saw several heat signatures creeping across in different groups.

_Voldemort's playing it smart this time. Surprising, but not completely unexpected. _

Leaping into the air, he shifted into the form of a raven, flying down and landing on the ground, his shape obscured by the shadows as he changed back.

From his coat he withdrew a silvery, fist-sized orb, clicking a switch as red lines began to blink rapidly.

A moment later the grenade went flying into the air, giving off a fireball-like explosion.

At that moment the soldier was up, pulling out twin submachine guns, magically enhanced bullets firing out sharply from their barrels.

One Death Eater gave a scream of pain as his body was riddled with bullets. Another was already running around, burning, before a bullet silenced him once and for all.

He did not stop until the squad of Death Eaters was all corpses lying at his feet.

At that time the killer had spent both his clips – he shrugged, putting them back into his coat and pulling out a long rifle with runes carved into its pale surface.

He didn't have long to wait before another group arrived, lead by none other than Bellatrix Lestrange.

As soon as they appeared from under their disillusionment charms, the female witch's eyes had widened at the dark figure and fired a killing curse.

The soldier lazily tilted his head to one side as the curse whizzed past his head, raising his rifle and firing several shots in quick succession.

Five Death Eaters went down, their heads a bloody mass of pulp and brain tissue.

"Spread out," Bellatrix barked, firing more spells at the killer, who was now moving also, rifle jerking slightly in his hand as it blazed furiously.

Bellatrix whirled her wand around furiously, sweat forming on her skin as she rapidly tried every single offensive spell she knew of, only for them to be dodged or deflected off a sleek black shield that appeared on his arm when it was needed.

She stepped back as realisation dawned on her face. There was no way she would be able to win this fight. "Retreat!"

It was then that she realised her entire squad of Death Eaters were now pieces of bloody, chunky meat strewn around on the ground.

"You're finished," the man stated in a cold, harsh voice.

Bellatrix's eyes narrowed as she began to raise her wand. "_Ava…_"

Without blinking or moving, a throwing knife was deftly flicked from a gloved hand, finding its mark straight through her hand as she cried, dropping her wand in pain.

As the warrior walked up to her, he loosely gripped her chin, pulling it up so that she could stare into his faceless mask. "I could kill you know. You know that, don't you?"

Her eyes were fearless and defiant. What could this buffoon do in comparison of the Dark Lord? "Then do it! Kill me, if you're so strong!"

The soldier hit her with the butt of his rifle, catching her as she fell.

He picked up her fallen wand, grabbing a stone off the ground. _"Portus."_

As the two disappeared, Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix apparated in, after managing to get the defenses down.

"What…" Kingsley gasped at the scene. In all his years, he had never seen something like this.

Arthur went over to one of the bodies, looking at it as he tried not to vomit. "They're all mutilated badly, Albus. Whoever did this did so with extremely dark magic."  
The old man frowned as he cast several detection charms. "That does not appear to be the case, Arthur. I myself do not know any spells, dark-natured or otherwise, that could cause such horrific effects."

Moody frowned. "Whatever caused this, the additional defenses around Azkaban weren't in place the last time I came here. Someone didn't want to be disturbed, while they came to fight the Death Eaters."

"How can you be sure it's one person?" Tonks asked. "There's no way that any single person could cause this much…"

Moody jabbed at several bodies. "It's obvious, isn't it? The way these bodies were all blown back from a single place, as well as trajectory and the repetitive nature of whatever spells our little friend used. The wounds also don't seem to be from magic, Albus. No magic creates wounds like these or mutilates this brutally. Only physical or muggle means."

--

Bellatrix opened her eyes to find herself strapped to a chair.

As she looked down, she saw that she was strapped to this strange metallic contraption with many runic inscriptions carved into its surface, and a rune circle surrounding her feet.

A dull hum sounded as several computer screens glowed, highlighting the masked killer's face before he laughed madly, taking it off.

The dark witch paled. "Potter!"

Harry grinned. "In the flesh."

He had changed considerably – his long, dark hair reached down to his shoulders. His face was hardened, crueler as if he had seen much hardship, and a long jagged scar ran down the side of his face. His green eyes, once brilliant and sparkling, now faded to an intense coldness and slight madness.

Even tied now to this strange contraption, Bellatrix's sarcasm was still present, albeit weakly. "So little baby Potter has grown up! Thinks he can fight Death Eaters now, thinks…"

Harry pressed a button on his monitor, a metal piece slamming against her mouth and silencing her. "Save it, Bellatrix. You can't hurt me like that, your voice just irritates me."

He smiled insanely, gesturing widely to his machines, hooked up to the chair. "Brilliant, isn't it? Designed and built it myself, with some help of course. Now, let's see if the pain directors are working…"

A blue glow surrounded Bellatrix as the mouthpiece muffled her horrific scream. She thrashed about wildly in the chair but was restricted by the metal straps – tears even began to form in her eyes.

"A combination of muggle technology and magic. Ironic, isn't it that the computer is using your very own magical core to direct the pain at your nerve endings. It's good that you're a powerful witch also – magnifies the pain twenty times. Worse than a torturing curse, wouldn't you say?" Harry adjusted a knob and switched off the pain directors. "Now let's get started…"

As soon as the mouthpiece was deactivated, Bellatrix growled. "I'll tell you nothing, Potter! I would never betray my master!"

"No sarcasm, I see. Too bad… I thought you would be stronger than that, after all." Harry smiled coldly. "I'll break you first, then question you. It'll be easier than punishing you for not answering anyway."

Bellatrix gave off another ghastly scream, this time without the mouthpiece as it echoed through the dark room. Her face twisted through pain as her thin body writhed from the agony.

Harry held it for a full ten minutes, smiling cruelly as tears rolled down her cheeks. "I can even direct all the pain to specific points – how about your genitals next? A very sensitive spot for most people, I'd say." He walked up, leaning into her quivering face. "Thank you, Bella, for showing me the fine art of torture. I can definitely see how you get your kicks from this."

--

Harry in reality despised torture – there was no point wasting his own time and energy to do these things. A bullet to the head usually was enough, after all.

But Bellatrix was a fountain of information. Everything he needed to know about Voldemort's strategies, future plans and tactics came here from one of his most trusted Death Eaters.

And it was from her that he got another hint – a particularly important one.

--

_The Ministry of Magic, _Harry mused as he looked at it from atop a nearby building, carrying a bulky case. _Of course. Take that bumbling idiot Fudge hostage, torture him or use him as a pawn. All involve attack and capture. Too bad Lucius wasn't here… _an image of his bloodied corpse hanging from the chandelier of Malfoy Manor popped into his head. _It would make things much more amusing. Ah well._

Scouting the usual Death Eater rally points, he found that there was a lot more activity lately and figured something big would be happening soon.

According to his new source, the Ministry had been the Dark Lord's target for quite a while, but would only attempt it if he were desperate.

Well seeing as he completely decimated the Death Eater forces in the attempted capture of Azkaban, these would be pretty desperate times.

A slight flutter of movement stirred from the other side. Harry frowned as he activated his optical sight.

The world became red as it highlighted several magical signatures heading towards the Ministry.

Harry flicked a switch and readouts begun being displayed, showing wind movement, direction and speed.

"Perfect. I've got a good shot from here."

Being an excellent sniper, Harry knew the golden rule – never shoot more than once. However, this was the wizarding world and he was trying to kill as much as possible before moving in, not just taking out a single high profile target so he would break it – just this once, of course.

Opening his case, Harry assembled the high-powered sniper rifle swiftly, fastening the bolt in with a click and chambering the round as he lay prone, jamming the rifle into his shoulder and looking down the sight.

The attack begun shortly as a group of Death Eaters apparated not too far from the entrance, marching in militaristically as people screamed, trying to get away.

_Cowards. _Harry steadied his breathing, aligning the sights and pulling the trigger.

The world exploded in his face as the rifle kicked back in his arms, letting out a deafening roar as the lead Death Eater's head disappeared in a burst of blood.

He snarled as he adjusted the rifle, firing it several more times to see more confusion and chaos as more Death Eaters fell.

Another group appeared, trying to attack where the previous group had tried to and failed – absolute idiots, really. With the Ministry's wards taking out their disillusionment charms, they were basically sitting ducks for his rifle.

Harry emptied two more magazines before he disassembled his rifle, depositing it and the case into his heavy coat before falling off the edge of the building, turning into a raven.

_And now, let the fun begin._

--

_Why do I have the worst of luck? _Remus groaned as he dodged another killing curse, sending back a stunner in reply. _I just go out, to get a hangover potion, and get caught up…MOVE! _He leapt out of the way, barely from an overpowered blasting hex.

His senses begun to fog up as his headache kicked in. _Oh joy… _

In slow motion, the Death Eater he was dueling was in the middle of an incantation, his wand tip starting to glow…

Before he was blasted away, a huge part of his side bursting into chunks of blood.

Suddenly Remus was grabbed roughly be the scruff of his collar and pulled to the side.

"Don't try to fight and stay out of the way," the masked figure growled as he put him down, turning around again and pulling out twin automatic shotguns.

Remus watched with morbid fascination as he walked down the Alley calmly, weapons blazing in his hands.

Another Death Eater gave off a war cry as he transfigured a large club but as he got close he was merely smacked in the face with the butt of one shotgun and shot with the other.

Soon a whole mass of bodies surrounded the killer like a ring.

He looked around, satisfied with his work before depositing the two guns into his coat.

"Stop!" A lead Auror yelled as they appeared on the scene.

A unit of Aurors ran out from the Ministry, following the lead Auror. As if it wasn't enough, almost on cue Dumbledore and some of the Order apparated in as well.

"I demand to know who you are," Dumbledore commanded in an authoritative voice.

"You're in no position to demand anything," the man snarled. "Stay out of the way, Dumbledore. That goes for ALL OF YOU!" he whirled around, addressing everyone in ear range. "I'm going to kill all of the Death Eaters and kill the Dark Lord myself, so stay out of my way!"

"You can't speak to the leader of the light like that!" Tonks yelled angrily, ignoring the warning look that several fellow Order members were sending her. "And we've got you surrounded! If we want we would arrest you now!"

"You could try," he said bluntly. "Now before I go…"

He raised a hand, sending out a burst of energy before disapparating.

The grim visage of a massive black death-skull loomed over them, glowing bright red at the edges.

Fudge ran out, accompanied by his guards and gasped at the sight. "Dear Merlin, what have we gotten ourselves into?"

--

Harry reappeared at his personal retreat, walking up to the shed.

He put his eye up to it – the scanner glowed briefly being going green and opening the door.

As he walked in, he pulled all the weapons he had taken out of his coat, placing them in their respective racks in the oversized shed with literally hundreds of different weapons and devices.

Harry smiled grimly at the sight of all the weapons he had accumulated as he placed his ammunition back in their strongboxes.

_Kill them all._


	2. Chapter 2

Bellatrix Lestrange sat in her chair.

Not the metal abomination she had been strapped to for the past few months, no. The chair she sat tied to with chains when Potter did not feel particularly…interrogative.

She scowled at the stain of the tears on her face.

She had cried.

She had cried like a pitiful baby, begging Potter to stop and spilling whatever secrets she knew to him – enough that even if she hoped to escape the Dark Lord would not hesitate in administering the Dementor's Kiss to her.

In full – there was no hope for her.

Bellatrix smiled sadly. Not one of her insane, almost childishly gleeful smiles as she watched someone screaming in pain, but an actual smile. A GENUINE smile.

Potter will have no more use for me. Then he will kill me, and I'll finally be free of this wretched hell.

Her entire world revolved around the Dark Lord. Now that she was effectively useless to him, and once escaped would die at the hands of either side, there was no point in existing anymore.

As if on cue, her dark master's sworn enemy walked in, dressed casually in black combat fatigues with a slim pistol as a sidearm in a shoulder holster.

She turned her head to acknowledge him. "Potter."

"Bella." Harry replied as coolly, pulling up a chair to face her.

The casual way in which he used the name 'Bella' disturbed her – only Sirius…

She smiled. "Here to kill me?"

He regarded her very seriously. "Why did you do it?"  
She blinked. This wasn't the way the interrogations usually went. "Do what?"

"Join Voldemort," Harry replied.

The witch replied without hesitation. "Power. Glory. The promise to eliminate those mudbloods from our world."

"Is that all?"

"Yes." She stated bluntly.

He stared straight at her. "That's not all, isn't it?"

"…Yes it is," Bellatrix almost growled out.

"It's not good to lie, now is it?" Harry smirked briefly before his face became stone. "Come on Bella I've little patience for your games. If you don't tell me then I force it out of you."

"There's nothing!" she cried quickly – a little too quickly. "Please don't hurt me! Please…"

Harry James Potter, the hero of the light had tortured Bellatrix Lestrange, one of Voldemort's trusted Death Eaters till she had become a sobbing wreck and begging for death. It was enough for a good novel, or at the very least one of Rita Skeeter's articles.

He sighed. "I can't be bothered activating the machine – shame for you, since I have many other talents…"

Harry grabbed Bellatrix's wand and pointed it at her. _"Legilimens!"_

As the attack hit her, Bellatrix couldn't stop him after what he did to her mental walls.

Believing that she was using Occlumency to block out some of the pain, Harry delved into her mind and shattered every single one of her mental shields, using her own wand to cast a spell that would prevent them from being rebuilt until he decided so.

Harry discarded the wand and smiled. "So it was that. You fell in love with him, didn't you?"

Bellatrix didn't even bother with a reply as she kept her head down, dazed after his mental attack.

Harry began to mentally file her memories in chronological order. "Humph. Let's see here. Fell in love with him, joined him, killed for him and eventually began to enjoy it. You loved to exterminate half-bloods as much as he did. You only did it because you wanted him to notice you."

He continued. "You became something you didn't want to become. At first, you considered it a duty – if you weren't going to do it who else was? A necessity, even. Then the lure became too much. The dark arts were too seductive, and you began to take pleasure from it."

He smacked his head and laughed insanely. "Well what do we have here? A love story gone wrong. Maybe before you had a chance, but now he's not even fully human. Through what he went, he won't ever feel love again. Why do you still serve your half-blood master now?"

"My master is not a half-blood!" Bellatrix yelled. "He could not ever be! He…"

Harry planted his pistol mockingly in Bellatrix's face. "My dear Bella, consider this ironic fact. He is the very thing he is trying to destroy."

--

Across all of magical England, everyone was discussing this new persona who had sworn to destroy the Death Eaters.

The Executioner, they called him. His calm attitude as he literally slaughtered dozens of Death Eaters was reminisce to that of a wizard executioner from more archaic times as he used the killing curse on convicted criminals.

Sitting in his office, Dumbledore was not in a good mood.

The emergence of the Executioner as a powerful force cast fear on both sides. Even worse, it made a bad image on both the Ministry and the Order of the Phoenix. As they arrived to the scene of the attack, all they could do was clean up the mess as an ominous death skull loomed in the sky.

His Order began to lose faith in him – the Aurors began to lose faith in Fudge when he issued a death warrant to the Executioner with 'kill on sight'. In their opinion, he was making the life of ordinary folk, magic and non-magic, safer.

The older man sighed. Up until now it had been perfect. Harry killing two people was a slight deviation in the plan of course, but it could have been easily worked around. Now that he escaped to Merlin knows where, and a new piece appeared on the chessboard with the seeming ability to move anywhere he chose, the game was starting to become unpredictable.

Dumbledore did not like it at all.

--

"Hermione?"

The former bookworm rubbed her eyes as she turned around to face her husband. "Yes, Ron?"

The redhead's eyes were full of concern as he came into her study. "You've been here for days, Hermione. You need to rest."

Hermione's study was the place that whenever she didn't know something, she would come here to solve it. Dozens of thick books on a variety of subjects were neatly stacked to the side, while her desk was lined completely with notes and papers.

And now, they were all focused on one thing – the Executioner.

A faded photo of the Executioner as he calmly walked through a bushfire, hefting a heavy machine gun was stuck to the wall. Her papers were all on his possible height, traits, talents, anything she could find out.

The Executioner was an unknown variable in a massive equation – and Hermione was determined to solve it.

She sighed. "I know, Ron. But still…"

He growled as he looked at the photo. "He's a bloody monster! What he does, how he does it…"

"But he's brilliant," Hermione replied. "His tactics, his strategies, his plans, all of them are perfectly arrange, giant traps for Death Eaters to walk in. I mean, he's not invincible. He's strong and fast but every human has his limits."

--

Harry Potter was not just your run of the mill human.

After all, how could a human defeat Lord Voldemort – a man who sacrificed his own humanity for power?

The Executioner looked through his binoculars as several Death Eaters crept their way to a wizard shelter.

Since Voldemort had risen, the Ministry had created giant shelters, with wards to guard those inside – very idiotic, since they literally had giant ATTACK ME signs above them.

But several things were off in tonight's attack. They weren't using disillusionment charms, and there were too few of them.

Something was definitely up.

Harry smiled psychotically as he flicked open the safety cap on a remote and pressed the red switch.

Immediately the explosives set around the shelter exploded, sending the Death Eaters flying in different directions.

Harry grabbed a small vial of strength potion from the assorted array of potions buckled to his belt, downing it in one shot as he did a superhuman leap into the air, landing down and pulling out a heavy machinegun.

Only when he did this did the real fun begin.

A large group of Death Eaters portkeyed in, immediately starting the battle with killing curses.

Immediately a heavy, sleek disk-like shield activated on his arm as Harry leapt away, using the momentum gathered from the curses impacting on his shield to create bigger distance as his machine gun blazed away.

The killing curse, while being very powerful was not designed to go through non-living objects and against such a heavy object as Harry's custom shield, they impacted harmlessly on its smooth surface.

The shield deactivated as Harry raised his machine gun again, the heavy bullets thudding into their targets one by one.

One of the survivors gave a yell as he threw a particularly nasty cutting curse before going down.

Harry stepped back but was not able to dodge completely, raising his arm to receive the curse.

There was a dull metallic sound as the curse slashed through his coat, but no blood seeped through.

Harry cocked his machine gun, raising it again as he activated his visor's scanning system.

SCANNING…

25 DEAD

0 CASUALTIES

0 INJURIES

He nodded in satisfaction before disappearing into the night.

--

As Harry reappeared at his base of operations, he restocked his weapons before entering the main residence.

He took off his coat and inspected the slash mark.

It wasn't too bad – he would be able to mend it quite easily.

Putting the coat away in its usual drawer, he took off his black visor.

As he did so the rest of his battle armour powered down and deactivated itself. Harry took off the now baggy armour, hanging it in a large closet and locking it.

He slipped on a set of simple fatigues, walking down to the holding cell to meet with his prisoner.

"Evening Bella," he said cheerfully as he went in, pulling up a chair across from her. "Stopped another attack. They tried to ambush me, but let's just say that they won't be bothering me, or anyone else, again. So…how was your day?"

Bellatrix raised her head to lock eyes with him. "You chain me to this chair, confine me to this cell where there is no possibility of escaping and ask how was my day? Are you mad, Potter?"

"Only a little," he smiled, his face turning hard as stone. "After all, you can only survive six months in the worst cell in Azkaban with Dementors repeatedly trying to bash your brain in at night and Aurors beating you up at day for so long before cracking."

Her eyes widened. "What?"

He gave out a harsh laugh. "But that's in the past. Dear Voldemort is probably pissing himself right now. I've killed a substantial number of his Death Eaters. What do you say now?"

She sighed heavily before answering. "I don't care anymore, Potter."

The only surprise Harry showed was a raise of the eyebrow. "Elaborate."

Her eyes were hollow. "How could I, Potter? You pushed those memories into me, over and over, showing me what I've become, what I was doing. Kill me now. You've no more use for me, after all."

Harry's face became colder as he began to take his pistol out of his holster.

He raised his pistol and cocked it.

"But tell me," she said. "You're not the little boy that was sent to Azkaban two years ago. You're a warrior. A man. Your skill for torture is greater than the Dark Lord's. How did you become like this? What made you?"

Harry replaced his gun in its holster before sitting down. "I suppose I can grant you this last request." His eyes became a distant grey. "It was simple, really. I had mastered my Animagus form a while ago. I was waiting for the perfect time to escape, but that was difficult with Dementors and Aurors watching twenty-four seven." He smiled. "Then they made a slip-up. A small window of time. I slipped out my cell, killed an Auror, took his wand and escaped."

Bellatrix was surprised. "You killed someone to escape? I'm impressed, Potter."

"I didn't think much of it then," Harry replied. "Back then it was just someone that I had to kill to survive. It was him or me." He smiled harshly. "I had nowhere to go, so I wandered in the Muggle world until something happened."

--

_As Harry sat in a café, eating a simple lunch, he brushed his hand through his long hair, giving a sigh._

_Suddenly an explosion rocked the entire street as a bomb detonated in the middle of the road._

_Harry immediately ducked down, his wand out and at the ready._

_A group of masked terrorists burst from the crowds, firing wildly into the air._

_At that instant Harry struck._

_He rose, pulling his hood up and aiming at the first terrorist. "Avada Kedavra!"_

_The killing curse easily struck the terrorist dead. Harry charged forward, firing multitudes of dark spells, severely wounding or killing the terrorists._

_They returned fire almost immediately but Harry fired some simple smoke spells to create some cover as he continued to attack even blindly through the dust._

_His entire being he threw into that battle – there was nothing to live for anyway. No reason to live anymore._

_Soon a large mass of bodies surrounded him. __Harry grinned, but his grin turned to shock as a red hole appeared in his stomach._

--

"Those terrorists were part of a rebellion called Fate's Hand," Harry smiled grimly. "It was there that I learnt the power of bullets tearing into your flesh was more efficient and less draining than a killing curse." He raised his pistol and cocked it. "But speaking of bullets tearing into flesh…"

Bellatrix smiled grimly as she stared at the barrel. "Do it, Potter. I'll see you in hell."

Harry licked his lips as he pressed it into Bellatrix's head, finger curled over the trigger.

As he did so, only now did he get a proper look at Bellatrix Lestrange.

Azkaban, the prolonged use of the dark arts and his own torture regime had warped her and carved her into a shadow of her former self. Once she may have been considered beautiful.

It was now as Harry gazed in wonder at her dark frizzled hair, pale ghostly skin and feminine curves that Bellatrix was, truly beautiful.

Harry smiled as he leaned in to her ear. "I could rape you, you know. And you wouldn't be able to do anything about it."

"Maybe," she whispered back, a little surprised that he hadn't decided to kill her. "But willing participation would be much more pleasurable…for both of us."

Harry laughed harshly before holstering his pistol. "Good night, Bellatrix."

"Pleasant nightmares, Potter!" she growled at him – inside she was shocked. _What just happened?_


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Okay, it appears I have screwed up the timeline I've created. Hermione and Ron have finished school and are in their first year in the big wide world meaning Harry is eighteen FROM NOW ON! THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT OTHERWISE THE TIMELINE WILL BE SCREWED!!

--

"Hello Ginny," Luna said in her dreamy voice as the redhead came up to her in one of the corridors of Hogwarts. "You haven't been to see me in a while – the humperdixes seem to have been avoiding you as well."

"Sorry, Luna," Ginny apologised. "I've…been busy lately."

For a moment Luna's eyes cleared up as she focused on her fully, before they became distant and grey again. "Sit down beside me, Ginny, and we'll talk."

As Ginny sat down, she sighed deeply. "It's my dad…he…he was wounded in an attack on the Ministry."

Luna turned to her in surprise. "Is he alright?"  
Ginny's eyes went dark. "He'll live, but they're not sure of what state his mind is in."

"Ginny…" Luna leaned in and held her tightly, which surprised the redhead as her friend had never shown this kind of affection, but returned it as she needed the comfort.

Ginny sighed. "It could have been worse. He could have died… If it hadn't been for the Executioner…"

--

**Flashback**

Arthur Weasley gave off a scream of pain as two Death Eaters held him simultaneously in a Cruciatus curse.

"How do you like that, muggle-lover?" One of them spat. "Don't worry, we've got more planned for you…"  
As Arthur was being tortured by the two Death Eaters, the Ministry around them was in total havoc. This was the biggest Death Eater attack yet – and Lord Voldemort himself was leading it.

"Stand aside, Death Eaters!" Voldemort hissed as he aimed his wand at a strongly warded door. _"Attero!"_

Many of his dark-robed servants scrambled to get away as the gold beam shattered whatever wards were in place around the door.

"_Alohomora." _As the door unlocked and Voldemort strode in, his red eyes widened as he leapt out of the way of a well-aimed rifle blast.

One of the Death Eaters cringed. "The Executioner!"  
"It's a delightfully poetic name, isn't it?" The Executioner walked out powerfully, holding a short rifle in one hand, and a pistol in the other. "Just the perfect way to sum me up."  
Voldemort growled as he pointed his wand at the dark warrior. "At last, we meet. I will kill you myself."

"Not exactly like anyone else wants to do it for you," the Executioner stated.

The Dark Lord whirled around to see his Death Eaters starting to slowly back away. "You cowards!" he roared as they jumped. "He's only a man!"

The Executioner walked up menacingly to the Dark Lord, raising his pistol to his left and shooting down a Death Eater about to kill a lady before sticking his masked face into Voldemort's own. "No," he said harshly. "I'm your worst nightmare!"

He deftly flicked his hand, making a knife appear and stabbing it into the stomach of the Dark Lord.

"That's just a taste," he said grimly as he kicked him down, knocking him out with the butt of his rifle. "Next time we meet, I'll kill you." He raised his rifle and pistol combination, pulling the triggers of both as he leapt out of the way of several killing curses.

Once he had cleared an opening, the Executioner looked around and growled viciously when he saw several people being tortured.

Walking forward, the warrior unconsciously drew a throwing knife and flicked it behind him, not even acknowledging it as it found its mark in the sneaky Death Eater.

He pulled out a slim remote, looked around to see if they were still in place around the Ministry and pressed it.

Immediately a massive, blinding flash and several loud ear-deafening explosions sounded.

As soon as it was over, smoke began pouring into the building, soon obscuring everything and making it impossible to see.

Except for the Executioner, of course.

His vision mode changed to thermal as he sorted out what he needed to do, then apparated away.

As reinforcements filed in, they found all the Death Eaters burning away in a massive pyre, while those of the Light still alive were strayed throughout the Ministry.

--

"He apparated to St. Mungos, with my dad." Ginny said. "The healers said that he was lucky to get there so quickly. If he hadn't…"

Luna didn't need her to continue as she kept holding her.

--

As Harry apparated back to his headquarters from a reconnaissance mission, he bypassed all his magical and muggle security and went in, taking off his coat and deactivating his suit as per custom.

Bellatrix was there, sitting at the table and leafing through an old book. "Potter," she acknowledged, somewhat stiffly.

Since Bellatrix had proven that she was essentially harmless, Harry had eventually let her loose in his headquarters. Even if she did escape, a charm that had been placed on his headquarters meant that there was no way she could tell anyone what his headquarters looked like, much less his location or who the Executioner really was. There was no point either way – the door was unlocked, Bellatrix could leave at anytime but she'd either be captured by the Ministry or tortured and killed by Death Eaters for giving out information.

Thus she stuck around. At first Harry was slightly annoyed that someone else was here, especially an Inner Circle Death Eater, but gradually got used to the idea.

"Found anything interesting in my library?" Harry asked as he grabbed a small pack from a cabinet, throwing it into the microwave and setting it for a minute.

Bellatrix glared at him as he did that. "I thought you'd be above such muggle things, Potter."

Harry raised the pistol he always carried. "Things like these, Bella?"

She scowled before raising the tattered black book again and continuing to read.

An awkward minute fell before Harry removed the pack from the microwave, peeling it off and taking a spoon.

The former Death Eater lowered her book and looked at the strange grey substance in shock. "What is that filth you're eating?" she snarled.

Harry shrugged. "Rations. You eat it every day you're out marching; you learn to appreciate how useful eating it is."

Another awkward silence passed before Bellatrix asked hesitantly, "Can I inspect your…pistol?"

Harry shrugged again, sliding it across the table.

She picked it up in surprise, turning it over and marveling at its condition before asking him incredulously, "Why did you just give me your weapon which I could easily use to kill you?"  
Harry didn't even look up. "You asked, and it's not like you can use it."

As she attempted to pull the trigger, an invisible force prevented her from doing so. "What is this? Is it charmed to prevent me from firing?"

Harry looked at her like she was stupid. "No. The safety's on."

"Safety?"

"The switch on the left side."  
As Bellatrix flicked it and tried to fire it at him again, she growled. "The bloody thing still doesn't work!"  
"Oh yeah, and I charmed it so only I can use it," Harry added casually, smirking as she became even more furious.

As he finished his rations and threw them into the bin, he decided to make some casual conversation as Bellatrix gave his weapon back as she could obviously not use the weapon to harm him in any way. "Met Voldemort a while ago. Sent him packing with a little gift – Executioner style." He smirked. "Stabbed him with a knife."

She snorted. "The Dark Lord's undergone many rituals. Such petty wounds heal immediately."

"I thank you for slipping me that little piece of information; it shall surely come in useful. You should know by now my weapons are far from normal, of course?"

Bellatrix's eyes widened slightly. "You charmed your knife?"

"Plus adding a few other little things. That scar is gonna hurt like hell whenever any magic is used on it – plus it's going to take months before it even starts to heal properly. Oh Bella, I'm ashamed. You should know by now I always finish what I start."

"Is that so, Potter?" Bellatrix sneered. "So does that mean you will eventually kill me?"

He shrugged. "I wouldn't waste my time."

Bellatrix went red. "Are you saying I'm not good enough to be killed by you, when all the other Death Eaters are?"

"I'm not, but you are," Harry stated pointedly. "The Ministry, Voldie and time are gonna get you eventually. Even if I give you back your wand, I doubt you'd have the magical strength to – that interrogation chair takes a lot of magical energy to use – so it'll take a while to be as strong as you were before I captured you."

She visibly deflated as he said that. "So I have no use to anyone."

"None at all," Harry said rather cheerfully as he poured a glass of gin. "None at all."

--

"We must stop this Executioner," Dumbledore declared firmly to the Order. "He must be stopped at once."

"I don't exactly see why he needs to be stopped," Kingsley said. "He's taking down Death Eater numbers greatly. It'll make it easier to execute You-Know-Who!"

Several Order members nodded in agreement.

"I do not agree quite with his methods," Dumbledore said with a sigh. "They still have a chance to come back to the Light…"

"They've made their choice!" Moody roared angrily as he stood up, stamping his wooden leg.

Several people were shocked – Moody rarely lost his cool.

"Alastor," Albus said in a warning tone.

"They made their choice when they took the Dark Mark! Let them pay for their own decisions!"

"You can't make everyone's decisions, Albus," Molly said sadly. "Don't forget about Harry Potter."

Several people winced slightly at that name – the 'traitor' as he had been labeled, was just as bad as Peter Pettigrew.

"We've been taking heavy losses," Remus said as he also stood up. "If we don't change our tactics now, we'll end up losing this war."

Snape also stood up. As far as he saw it, the quicker the war ended the higher his chances of survival would be. "The Dark Lord is, for lack of a better word – afraid. He fears the Executioner. For the Order of the Phoenix to start shooting to kill, this would severely cut down on the Death Eater forces. This is war, after all."

"No!" Albus said a little too quickly before sighing once more. "Let us not speak of this now…to other matters."

--

"_Incarcerous," _Hermione said as quietly as she could.

She smiled when thick ropes appeared around the wooden dummy she had conjured up to practise with.

With a flick of her wand, she canceled the spell. _I swear I will find out who the Executioner really is. He won't be able to hold out forever._


End file.
